The rack. The iron maiden. Those forms of torture are nothing compared to the way some writers feel about marketing. We love writing, but not especially marketing because we’d rather be writing and marketing takes time away from us sitting in front of our computer, or writing on our yellow pads of paper.

Make no mistake, we are damn proud of what we wrote and want to get it out there to readers. But we also consider ourselves writers and not necessarily advertising madmen.

I have been both traditionally published and self-published, and have gotten use to the fact that marketing is just another part of the business. If you are self-published, no one else is going to market your book for you, unless you pay someone to do it. Even with traditional publishing, you will be expected to help spread the word about your book.

Marketing requires a different mindset. As a writer friend of mine is fond of saying, it is time to put on your big girl panties and just do it. For male writers, you can do the translation.

To make it more palatable and convenient, I set one day aside and have designated Monday as Marketing Day. I make my business calls, write news releases or contact reporters, arrange book signings, seek reviews, update my website, etc. And part of that mindset is doing as good a job at marketing as you do at your writing. Get creative. Have fun.

Big girl panties, remember?

We want to get our writing out to people to read otherwise, it’s just a journal for our eyes only. And in order to do that, we need to tell readers about our book with marketing.

So designate your marketing day. Be it Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Even Tuesday and Thursday will do.